NewSong is an American
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
group that was founded in 1981, at Morningside Baptist Church in
Valdosta, Georgia. They have had twelve
GMA Dove Award
A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...
nominations, and one
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
Nomination.
They are also the founders of the
Winter Jam Tour Spectacular
Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, also referred to as simply Winter Jam (and formerly known as January Jam from 1995–2000), is an annual American music tour featuring contemporary Christian music artists of all genres, stunt and/or comedy
Comedy ...
, the United States' largest annual Christian music tour. It began in 1995, and is hosted by NewSong.
Winter Jam
Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, also referred to as simply Winter Jam (and formerly known as January Jam from 1995–2000), is an annual American music tour featuring contemporary Christian music artists of all genres, stunt and/or comedy
Comedy ...
has had many of the most popular Contemporary artists perform each year, including
TobyMac
Toby McKeehan (born Kevin Michael McKeehan; October 22, 1964), better known by his stage name TobyMac (styled tobyMac or TOBYMAC), is an American contemporary Christian music singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He was first known f ...
,
Hillsong UNITED,
Newsboys,
Lecrae
Lecrae Devaughn Moore (born October 9, 1979), mononymously known as Lecrae, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record and film producer, record executive, actor, and entrepreneur.
He is the president, co-owner and co-founder of the ind ...
,
MercyMe, and
Skillet
A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods. It is typically in diameter with relatively low sides that flare outwards, a long handle, and no lid. Larger pans may have a small grab ha ...
.
NewSong has frequently provided support for organizations working with abandoned and underprivileged children. For years they worked with
World Vision
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
, a humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their community to rid them of poverty and injustice. Then in 2006, the band became involved with
Holt International, a world leader in child adoption and child welfare.
The original four members included the current members Eddie Carswell, Billy Goodwin, and former members Eddie Middleton and Bobby Apon.
History
1981–1993
NewSong recorded three custom
albums independently. In 1982, they signed on with Covenant Records, and released ''The Son In My Eyes'' the next year. In 1984, they signed a contract with
Canaan Records, a branch of CCM label giant
Word Records
Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records).
History
In 1 ...
and released ''The Word''. NewSong continued to stay with Word Records until 1991 when they signed on with
DaySpring Records
Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records).
History
In 19 ...
. The next year they released ''One Heart At A Time, The Best of NewSong'', which featured 12 hits from their previous albums. In 1993, they joined up with the Benson Music Group and released ''All Around The World'', which brought four No. 1 hits. In 1993, lead vocalist Eddie Middleton left to pursue a solo career, and
Bobby Apon left to spend more time with his family.
1994–1999
In 1994, songwriter Leonard Ahlstrom, soloist
Charles Billingsley, musician Scotty Wilbanks, and the lead vocalist from the contemporary Christian band
Truth
Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...
, Russ Lee, joined NewSong. That year NewSong released ''People Get Ready'' which brought four No. 1 hits, and featured a re-recorded version of "Arise My Love", which was first recorded by the original group in 1987.
In 1996, Charles Billingsley left to pursue a solo career. In 1997, NewSong released ''Love Revolution''. It featured four No. 1 hits, including "Miracles," which stayed at No.1 on the CCM Adult Contemporary chart for four consecutive weeks, tying the record set a few years earlier by
Bob Carlisle
Robert Mason "Bob" Carlisle (born September 29, 1956) is an American Contemporary Christian music, Contemporary Christian singer and songwriter. He performed with several bands, most notably Allies (band), Allies and Billy Thermal, before launchin ...
's "
Butterfly Kisses".
In May 1999, Bobby Apon died. He was recognized on the album ''Arise, My Love, The Very Best of NewSong''. This featured 12 of their previous No. 1 hits. It also included two new songs which became No. 1 hits, "Can’t Keep A Good Man Down", and "Jesus To The World (Roaring Lambs)", which was inspired by Christian speaker and author
Bob Briner, who died later that year from
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. They also had a third new song, "Like Minded, Like Hearted", which NewSong recorded with
Out of Eden
Out of Eden was an American gospel music group often identified with R&B and contemporary Christian music. It featured sisters Lisa Kimmey, Andrea Kimmey-Baca, and Danielle Kimmey. The group was active from 1994 to 2006, producing seven albums ...
of
Gotee Records.
2000–2002
Russ Lee and Scotty Wilbanks left NewSong in 2000. They were replaced by soloist Michael O’Brien, Steve Reischl, and former Truth member, Matt Butler.
Songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
and electric guitarist Leonard Ahlstrom also left later to help a friend manage a recording label in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Leading up to 2000, NewSong caught the attention of popular radio personality, DC Daniel (then, of "Steve & DC") and began collaborating on production ideas for future projects. The partnership led to the most successful period of NewSong's career as they released the album ''Sheltering Tree'', in late 2000.
"Christmas Shoes" and breakthrough
DC, Eddie Carswell and Leonard Ahlstrom penned the bonus track "
The Christmas Shoes" for ''Sheltering Tree'', which became a No. 1 mainstream radio hit in a ''Billboard'' chart-record three weeks, topping ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary Chart.
Shortly after "The Christmas Shoes" became a No. 1 song, Clive Calder shut down the Benson label. However due to the huge career momentum coming off 2000/2001, NewSong stayed with Zomba Music, on the major Reunion label, and released a full studio Christmas album, ''The Christmas Shoes'', which was nominated in 2003 for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album The Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album was awarded from 1991 to 2011. From 1991 to 1993 it was awarded as Best Pop Gospel Album. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is reserved "For alb ...
. Along with the title track, the album featured a variety of original Christmas tunes and Christmas classics “
O Holy Night”.
The song's success also inspired Christian author
Donna VanLiere to write a book based on the song. The book, which contained accounts of friendship from artists, singers, and speakers, won a Silver Angel Award. The book was on the
''New York Times'' Bestseller List in 2002.
The book was later made into a
TV movie for
CBS, called ''
The Christmas Shoes'', starring
Rob Lowe and
Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Kimberly Payne Williams-Paisley (née Williams; born September 14, 1971) is an American actress known for her co-starring roles on ''According to Jim'' and ''Nashville,'' as well as her breakthrough performance in ''Father of the Bride'' (1991) ...
, which was released on December 1, 2002. It had nearly 17 million viewers and was the second highest-rated TV movie of the 2002–2003 seasons.
2003–2008
In 2003, Donna VanLiere released ''The Christmas Blessing'', the second book in the series spawned by "The Christmas Shoes" song. It was a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' bestselling book, and was later made into a TV movie by
CBS. It was the most watched TV movie in 2005, and had an appearance by NewSong, which showed them singing their holiday single "The Christmas Blessing". NewSong also received a Dove Award for Musical of the Year for ''The Christmas Shoes Musical''.
In March 2004, NewSong announced that they were leaving Reunion Records and moving to Integrity Music. In November 2004, NewSong recorded their live worship album and DVD, ''Rescue: Live Worship'' at
First Baptist Church of Woodstock, which is the home church for several members in the band.
The album was released in May 2005, and the DVD of the concert came out in September. In November, Scotty Wilbanks left to join the group
Third Day
Third Day was a Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia during the 1990s. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee (both of whom were the only constant members) and Billy Wilkins. Drummer David Carr was the ...
, and to produce bands. Also in 2005, NewSong was inducted into the
Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
In March 2006, Michael O’Brien left to restart his solo career and Drew Cline was asked to fill in. In September, Eddie Carswell, Matt Butler, Billy Goodwin, and guest artist Drew Cline released ''The Christmas Hope'', featuring traditional Christmas carols, NewSong originals, and three songs to complement the book trilogy by Donna VanLiere. In November, ''The Christmas Shoes'' movie was released on DVD. ''The Christmas Hope'', the third TV movie installment of the trilogy, was released in December 2008 by CBS.
The 2007 edition of the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, which they founded in 1995, featured headliners
Steven Curtis Chapman and
Jeremy Camp, with special guests
Hawk Nelson,
Sanctus Real, new artist
Britt Nicole, Speaker Tony Nolan, Presidential impersonator and comedian John Morgan and was attended by over 275,000 people and 37,000 made decisions for Christ. In March 2007, Christian solo artist Nate Sallie joined NewSong. In April, ''The Christmas Hope'' album was nominated for a Dove Award, for Best Christmas Album of the Year.
The 2008 Winter Jam Tour Spectacular concluded its 34-city run with a bang and a near sold-out crowd at the Sommet Center in Nashville and ranked No. 4 among the Top 100 Tours logged by Pollstar over the first 90 days of this year. Winter Jam 2008 had a 16 percent increase to 311, 836 fans coming to see
MercyMe, Skillet,
BarlowGirl, NewSong, and
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
's
Mandisa
Mandisa Lynn Hundley (born October 2, 1976), known professionally as Mandisa, is an American gospel and contemporary Christian recording artist. Her career began as a contestant in the fifth season of ''American Idol'', in which she finished in ...
.
On December 29, 2008 in an email to subscribers of his newsletter, Russ Lee announced that he will be rejoining NewSong as lead vocalist.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
American Christian musical groups
Musical groups from Georgia (U.S. state)
Musical groups established in 1981
Word Records artists
Reunion Records artists